Category: May 2017

In a basement laboratory at the University of Calgary, a pair of researchers say they have a solution to one of the key problems facing the oil and gas pipeline industry — spills. The researchers say their system, which combines real-time monitoring and an outer layer around a pipeline, would better protect the environment and save the reputation of the industry by eliminating leaks — though it would come at a higher cost. "We have a fully functional prototype that illustrates completely…

Jack Gregg with tech company Honeywell shows me around a sort of new car showroom for companies shopping for “smart” oilfield gear. The energy industry is increasingly investing in ways to make oil production easier and cheaper. Companies are using cloud technologies and mobile devices. The time-consuming work of driving out to a field to check on equipment can now be done from afar. Honeywell builds high-definition, touch-screen control boards to help make that possible. “We can actually control processes from inside…

INGLESIDE — A massive crude carrier called the Anne docked at the Port of Corpus Christi on Friday without a drop of oil in its cargo hold. Nonetheless, its visit made history. At nearly 1,100 feet long and 200 feet wide, the French vessel was easily be the largest oil tanker to ever call on a port in the Gulf of Mexico. Officials for Occidental Petroleum successfully navigated the super tanker through the port and safely docked it at the Oxy Ingleside…

Natural gas has been something of a stepchild in the 400-mile Eagle Ford Shale oil field, but it’s having a moment. With Mexico’s natural gas production on the decline — even as Mexican demand for natural gas is surging — Texas companies operating in the southernmost part of the Eagle Ford near Laredo are drilling natural gas wells so they can sell the product across the border. Since 2010, Webb County’s gas production has soared from around 100 million cubic…

U.S. crude oil inventories decreased by 4.4 million barrels during the week ended May 19, the Energy Information Administration reported. EIA's report represents the seventh consecutive weekly drop in American crude supply and beat analysts' expectations of a 2 million barrel draw. The news also comes one day ahead of a Vienna meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in which the so-called oil cartel will discuss extending its 1.2 million barrel per day production cut beyond the first…

Oil prices fell on Thursday as OPEC ministers met to decide how long to extend oil production cuts in an attempt to drain a global glut that has depressed markets for almost three years. One OPEC delegate at the meeting in Vienna said the group of 14 oil producers had agreed to extend cuts in production by nine months to March 2018. Brent crude oil LCOc1 dropped as much as $1.24 a barrel to a low of $52.72 before regaining…

The Panhandle Import Reduction Initiative group recently sent a letter to the White House calling on President Donald Trump and his administration to recognize and correct what it says are unfair trade policies impacting the U.S. oil and gas industry. Spurred by a presidential memo for Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross to use the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 to investigate “core industries such as steel, aluminum, vehicles, aircraft, shipbuilding, and semiconductors…critical elements of our manufacturing and defense industrial bases,”…

From selling off oil in the strategic petroleum reserve to cutting funding for renewable energy research, the Trump administration on Tuesday proposed a new course for financing the nation's energy sector as it seeks to balance the federal budget. At the Department of Energy, where Secretary Rick Perry has promised an "all of the above" strategy to developing the nation's energy supply, research funding would plunge by 18 percent overall. Neither nuclear nor fossil fuel research was spared in the…

A bill that would increase the rate of taxes on oil and gas production from horizontally drilled wells was advanced by a house committee late Monday night. The bill, HB 2429, would change the incentive rate for wells that started producing between 7/1/2011-7/1/2015 from one percent to four percent, until the well’s incentive period expires after 48 months. After 48 months, the tax on the wells would increase to seven percent. “As these wells fall off (the incentive window of 48 months) they…

The initial report on 1st-quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was weak, but showed encouraging growth in the oil and gas production sector. Capital investment, which has been historically weak since the Great Recession, bounced back to a 9.4% uptick, led by expansion in oil and gas drilling and related equipment. The Federal Reserve Board earlier reported preliminary 1st-quarter industrial production involving drilling in the oil patch was up 159% over 2016 levels. This accounts for nearly 0.5% of the reported 0.7% GDP growth…